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By John H. Redekop
AS A Christian political scientist, my analysis of
moral issues is rooted in the ethical guidelines God has provided for
governments and in the biblical implication that God’s people shall
be informed and responsive citizens.
Not all important political questions are moral issues.
Where to build a road or which taxes to adjust are not moral matters. Moral
issues deal with inherently wrong options, not merely with unwise policies.
Poverty
For the fifth consecutive year B.C. has the highest
child poverty rate in the country. A wealthy province must do more to
reduce the moral scourge of poverty.
Homeless people in Vancouver have doubled in number
from 2002 to 2008. The provincial total likely exceeds 14,000. Homelessness
mushroomed with the closing, by previous governments, of institutions
providing shelter and assistance for people with mental problems. Until
that policy is reversed, the problem will persist.
This year the Liberals are spending $489 million on
housing, four times more than in 2001. Many have been helped but the
numbers of homeless increase.
The NDP promises to end “the crisis in
homelessness in 5 years.” Unfortunately the NDP record in office was
weak. The moral crisis of homelessness must be remedied!
Education
The Liberal record is generally good. Public school
funding has increased by $676 million although enrollment has declined by
four percent in five years. Importantly, the dropout rate has declined to
7.2 percent, the lowest in Canada.
The government established seven new universities and
doubled spaces for training physicians and nurses.
The NDP platform promises increased funding,
reinstatement of post-secondary student grants and the controversial
freezing of post-secondary tuition costs.
Not all, however, is rosy. The NDP supports shifting
some policy responsibility from the elected school boards to the unelected
teachers union. Given democratic principles, that’s morally
unacceptable. The Liberals also have a major problem. They have given
homosexual activists, Murray Corren and husband Peter Corren, an almost
veto role in assessing, reviewing, and revising the public school
curriculum from K to 12. This amazing delegation of
law-making to two people, which theNational
Post denounced as “sexualizing the
classroom”, is for many a major moral concern.
Environment
After much talk from both parties, the Liberals are
finally doing something. Their ‘pennies per litre’ carbon tax
applies to 76 percent of B.C.’s carbon pollution. But with gas prices
fluctuating wildly, will this modest levy actually reduce consumption?
The NDP’s opposing stance has cost them dearly.
Environmentalists such as David Suzuki and Tzeporah Berman have denounced
Carol James’ promise to “axe the gas tax” and implement
the “cap and trade” option. Importantly, SFU professor Mark
Jaccard has calculated that James’ option would eliminate 60,000 jobs
by the year 2020.
The desecration of our God-given environment is a moral
issue. Neither policy option impresses me, although the NDP stance would
likely do more to reduce consumption and living standards.
Economy
Budget deficits are simply future taxes. If taken too
far, deficit financing becomes immoral. Both parties promise disturbingly
large but perhaps necessary deficits.
Liberal policies have given British Columbians the
lowest personal income tax in Canada for incomes up to $116,000. Tax rates
for corporations and especially for small businesses (44 percent in 2008)
have also been reduced.
The NDP voted against both. Voters will recall
that during the NDP 1990s rule, B.C. became a ‘have-not’
province receiving equalization grants from Ottawa.
Both unfair taxation and irresponsible spending are
moral issues requiring further progress. Judging by the record, the
Liberals have greater credibility.
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B.C.’s minimum wage, affecting about 42,000
employees, has for eight years been $8. The NDP advocates $10. The Liberals
argue such an increase would cost 40,000 jobs. Maybe.
Liberal credibility is stretched because the government
negotiated a 43 percent salary increase for numerous top officials but
allows the lowest wage earners to fall further behind.
The Campbell government also approved large severance
packages. Excesses must be reduced and the minimum wage should increase to
$9. Morality is at stake.
Health
Given B.C.’s resources, it’s immoral to
allow people to suffer for months or to die because of waiting times or
closed operating rooms. A VGH physician told me that such deaths happen.
The Liberals argue that more than 40 percent of
B.C.’s budget goes to healthcare and that the Conference Board of
Canada still rates B.C.’s healthcare system as the best in Canada.
That’s commendable but we cannot be satisfied.
What’s probably needed most is not more money but greater efficiency,
fewer bureaucrats and more frugal spending.
Crime
At 2.5 per 100,000 population, B.C.’s murder rate
ranks among the lowest in Canada. The U.S. rate is 6.3. Even so, B.C. has
11 of the 20 most dangerous Canadian cities. The Liberal record is
generally commendable – although in some areas, for example in ending
the prison parenting program, the Liberals, in my view, acted
wrongly.
A major factor is the emphasis on punishment and not on
crime prevention. Are we following the U.S. model? With five percent of the
global population, the U.S. has 25 percent of the world’s prisoners;
and 80 percent of the mentally challenged are in jails, rather than
hospitals.
To avoid such immoral realities requires more emphasis
on prevention, more Judeo-Christian moral teaching in schools, and proper
care for both addicts and the mentally challenged.
Aboriginals
The Campbell government’s desire to settle
aboriginal land claims, supported by the NDP, is commendable. But the
Tsawwassen Treaty and the proposed Recognition and Reconciliation Act point
to trouble. The situation is complicated by Canada’s Supreme Court
decision that “aboriginal title is a right to the land itself.”
But how can our standard fee simple title and aboriginal title coexist on
the same parcels of land when each gives an exclusive right of occupation?
The problem became even more complex when the
provincial government, four years ago, described treaty negotiations as
“a new government-to-government relationship.”
Do the First Nations have an encompassing government?
Their ‘government’ is, in fact, largely funded by the other
governments! I perceive a huge moral incongruity.
Summary: Both major parties
have presented interesting, innovative and costly platforms. B.C. citizens
thank them; on May 12 they will express their verdict.
John Redekop taught political science at Wilfrid
Laurier University and Trinity Western University; he wrote Politics Under God.
May 2009
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